A Healthy Mind: Dealing with the Emotional Side of Hearing Loss

A Healthy Mind: Dealing with the Emotional Side of Hearing Loss

When you lose one or more of your five senses, it’s not just a physical loss; it’s also an emotional struggle. Not being able to hear your loved ones properly can cause miscommunication, frustration, and even envy for those who can hear properly. Fortunately, there are ways to reduce the emotional problems of those with hearing loss.

Distinguish between your hearing loss and your lack of control over it.

With many physical ailments, people often feel like a burden. They feel regret or guilt for being the way that they are. According to Hearing Link, denial, anger, bargaining, and depression are also common in individuals with hearing loss of any type.

Hearing loss, like other ailments, is never your fault. Accepting your condition for what it is, and not what it should or could be, is key. When you’re thankful for what you do have, you can feel at peace with yourself and what is within your personal control.

Receive counseling to talk through your emotions.

Even if your emotional problems are not per say severe, turning to a professional for dealing with these issues can help you learn new tactics for dealing with such and to get worries off your chest. This means you can learn to eliminate problems in the moment as well as deal with future emotional struggles, even those not pertaining to hearing loss.

Receiving counseling as soon as possible can reduce your chances of emotional symptoms getting worse with time. Everyone needs an emotional outlet every now and then; some just need professionals to help them through it – and that’s okay.

Search for a support system.

Outside of professional counseling, finding friends or family members you can confide in is important within your hearing loss journey. If one does not open up to those they love about their struggles with hearing loss and how it makes them feel, misunderstandings alone may hinder relationships.

For those who do not have anyone personal they can talk to, they can find a hearing loss support group, in person or online, to learn about others’ journeys, talk about their own, and gain helpful advice from others.

Find a quality hearing aid.

You can not only help hear better with hearing aids but also alleviate the emotional and mental symptoms apart of your aural struggle. The technology we have today is phenomenal. Hearing aids are very simple devices that have complex, life-changing results.

Even if you do purchase a hearing aid, the above tips may still be crucial depending on how long you’ve had hearing loss, the severity of your hearing loss and emotional symptoms, and the like. Those who dealt with sudden, unexpected hearing loss may need more support than those whose hearing loss was expected or more gradual.

Conclusion

When it comes to the emotional side of hearing loss, realizing that it’s something you can’t ultimately control is important. To also aid with the issue, receiving counseling or even opting for a hearing aid can help reduce any unhappiness and hopelessness you may have in regard to your difficulty hearing.